Hoping to sway sellers, eBay steps up AI tools

EBay is relying on these tools to attract users and boost inventory as it competes with other AI-minded marketplaces like Poshmark, Etsy, Amazon and Facebook Marketplace. In May, for instance, Amazon rolled out “Enhance My Listing,” a generative AI tool that can create product listings and descriptions that adhere to Amazon’s style based off of just a few words and a photo. At eBay, the platform sees seller-focused AI tools as a “virtuous flywheel” that can lead to increased revenue and traffic, explained Xiaodi Zhang, eBay’s vp of seller experience.

“If we’re able to make our sellers happy and improve their ease of use of the platform, their retention will increase and they’ll be able to bring in more unique inventory to our platform, and that’s going to drive buyers,” Zhang said in an interview.

These investments come at a critical time for eBay, which, like other businesses with large international contingents, is facing macroeconomic headwinds from tariffs. Almost half (49%) of eBay’s revenue came from international operations in the second quarter. For marketplaces, “in times of volatility, growing your product catalog and having a variety of distribution really helps,” said Brad Jashinsky, director analyst at Gartner. EBay is banking on its AI tools for sellers to do just that.

Already, eBay is seeing some green shoots from these initiatives. In a July earnings call, eBay CEO Jamie Iannone said that the company was using generative AI to optimize titles in product listing ads syndicated to Google. That, he said, “result[ed] in measurably higher quality scores, ranking and overall performance for these listings, leading to incremental GMV.” EBay reported $19.5 billion in gross merchandise value in the second quarter, up from $18.75 billion a quarter before. As of June 30, eBay had 134 million active buyers and “millions of sellers” worldwide, per its investor page.

EBay started using AI-based selling tools in 2023. Since then, more than 10 million unique sellers have used at least one of its AI offerings — like listing description assistants and photo-editing tools — to create more than 200 million listings. Some 500,000 listings a day on eBay are crafted with the help of AI, according to the company. “AI can help create some leapfrog opportunities for us — things that, traditionally, we weren’t able to deliver,” Zhang said.

While sellers aren’t required to use AI, eBay aims to make its tools “intuitive and seamless enough” that sellers won’t need a tutorial, Zhang said. She acknowledged that some sellers may be “skeptical of AI,” saying that’s why eBay “has made everything optional.” But, she said, “[AI] absolutely cuts down on time, and also expenses, so [sellers] can redeploy their limited resources and time to other tasks.”

AIl in on AI

EBay is pouring resources into AI seller tools at the same time as many of its competitors. Amazon, for instance, started rolling out generative AI tools in 2023 to help sellers create product titles, descriptions and other listing details. In 2024, Amazon made it easier for sellers to list products on Amazon by importing information from other web pages. In 2025, Poshmark debuted an offering called “Smart List AI,” which creates listing details for sellers through photo uploads.

Put together with these other offerings, eBay’s AI tools seem “par for the course,” in terms of reducing friction for sellers, said Kiri Masters, the founder of Bobsled Marketing and the newsletter “Retail Media Breakfast Club.” “If you’re a seller on multiple marketplaces and everyone’s building easy-to-use tools, you don’t want to be left behind,” Masters said.

Jen Jones, CMO at Commercetools, pointed out that, on eBay, many sellers are individuals, rather than full-fledged brands with multiple employees. That means that many eBay sellers are resource-strapped, and for first-timers, AI tools could “help build in some consistency and professionalism,” she told Modern Retail. For instance, on eBay, Jones said, “Some photos look like professional photo shoots, but others are just snapshots on your phone.” If AI helps make listings more detailed and attractive, she added, “there’s a quality aspect to it, which can provide better results for buyers.”

Still, Gartner’s Jashinsky added that one challenge for marketplaces like eBay using AI is “ensuring that they’re not misleading a buyer by making a photo or product look too good.” “Are you still representing the exact condition of the item?” he asked. “That’s maybe less of a challenge for, say, an Amazon or a Walmart, where most of the products they sell are going to be new.”

EBay regularly tests AI features with its seller community and then refines them based on seller suggestions, Zhang said. For example, in the past, it has tweaked AI-powered listing descriptions after sellers said suggested sentences “were written in a tone that didn’t feel as authentic,” Zhang explained. EBay also looks to customer service calls and Reddit forums to gather information on how sellers are responding to its AI tools.

Ultimately, AI moves at a lightning-fast pace, but as eBay marks three decades in business, it’s eager to experiment with the technology, Zhang said.

“If you look at so many of the innovations that have happened over the last 30 years, eBay was very much at the forefront of a lot of the inflection points, from creating a marketplace to [offering] different types of selling,” she said. “Now, with AI, we’re pushing ourselves to stay at the forefront.”